theCryptofishist wrote:It's a lake for part of the year, depending on rainfall of course. But yes, the locals go out there at other times and there's another quasi event just past the beginning of july...

i'd heard of the 4th of juplaya

but i'm more wondering if anyone has had experience with roughing it alone (or in a small camp) out there

Nope, not the way it was explained to me by a guy at the BLM office. It is managed by the feds, but it is the people's land. Doesn't belong to anyone but the people of the US. BLM sets the rules to preserve the land so it is there for you to enjoy.

It is very different camping out there without a crowd.

You are always smaller than anything that upsets you. Remain calm and solutions with boundless possibility will find your heart.

I have camped out there before off my motorcycle. Also camped and ridden all over that whole area. There are lots of abandoned mines and hot springs to explore all around out there. The Playa mostly fills with water in the winter and the surface turns into thick muck that will swallow your vehicle.

The Black Rock Playa is quite peaceful and a little spooky in the middle of the night.

TT120 wrote:I have camped out there before off my motorcycle. Also camped and ridden all over that whole area. There are lots of abandoned mines and hot springs to explore all around out there. The Playa mostly fills with water in the winter and the surface turns into thick muck that will swallow your vehicle.

The Black Rock Playa is quite peaceful and a little spooky in the middle of the night.

Very much at your own risk. Many are deadly.

The Lady with a Lamprey

"The powerful are exploiting people, art and ideas, and this leads to us plebes debating how to best ration ice.Man, no wonder they always win....." Lonesomebri

We've been on the playa in December. Cold, the wind bites down to the bone. We stayed on the edge, the surface felt spongy and we didn't want to risk driving out more than a few hundred yards, if that.

AntiM wrote:We've been on the playa in December. Cold, the wind bites down to the bone. We stayed on the edge, the surface felt spongy and we didn't want to risk driving out more than a few hundred yards, if that.

how isolated were you? were there any other campers? did you feel safe? how long did you stay?do blm rangers patrol? did you see any?

I used to camp out around Black Rock desert, ususally in the surrounding foothills, under a cottonwood tree. At night, on the playa, driving around fast with no particular direction.... This was back 20 years though, before the hip international crowd discovered it....

There's a gun & ammo shop around here where I saw a homemade cannon that looked like it'd been cut from a hydraulic cylinder from a Cat D9 or something. Owner told me, yeah, back in the 70s we used to take that out to the Black Rock Desert and shoot bowling balls about a mile.

First heard of Black Rock desert from some guys over 20 years ago who were interested in the Emigrant trail. Some history up there. The area is remote. Even remoter when it's not burn season. There is camping south around Pyramid lake, with a cheap easy to get permit, or you can go north to High Rock Lake, and you haven't been nowhere, until you've been to High Rock Lake. It's nowhere. High Rock Canyon and Little High Rock Canyon Wilderness are north of Black Rock, with hiking and camping and historic sights from the wagon trains back to chipped rocks used to make arrow points. The north shore of Pyramid lake is somewhat remote, the lakes there, wild land formations, but lots of cow patties. You might need a high clearence vehicle for some of this. You will need a dependable vehicle, solid, with spare everything, and the permit.

Ususally on Bureau of Land Management land you don't need a permit to camp. For public use, BLM has the least restrictions, compared with parks and the like. Camping in the foothill surrounding the playa can be much more comfortable, yet just minutes away from the flats. People go out on the playa at night and drive around, small aircraft might land. That might be dangerous if you were to camp out on the playa in a tent without the protection of BRC. I admit, I've driven around out there with my headlights off at night. On the empty playa, what looks like a house in the distance turns out to be just a small rock, and a small shimmering movement far away turns out to be a half dozen racing sand yachts. Space perception gets thrown way off. And it's easy to get lost on the playa if you don't take note of the distant profile of the surrounding hills back where you entered.

As for interhuman contact, never met anyone out here giving me the bad vibes, other than at the burn. Most of the out back types are proud of their character, looking to be helpful, they aren't looking to fulfil some B-movie depiction. Now, as a skinny naked black dude, you might experience a different reaction than me. But with the right clothes (no feathers) that should be fine. Look at the crime stats and you'll see that going to the desert is safer than staying where ever we are.

If you're thinking about it, go up there and do some camping. Use the info here, and google more. Don't think permits are needed for most of that area, other than Pyramid Lake. Get that permit, it's a huge lake. There are sign-in sheets at trailheads and places where you can indicate when you were there and plan to return. Let someone know where you are going and when you plan to return. There is an folk art drive on the left/west side of 447 just before the Black Rock Desert turn off. And if it's wet on the playa and you drive down there.....ha....

so here's a question... if our event is leave no trace, is there someone who goes out on the playa making a record of all the random camper traces (like pulverized bowling balls) so we don't have those credited against us?

so here's a question... if our event is leave no trace, is there someone who goes out on the playa making a record of all the random camper traces (like pulverized bowling balls) so we don't have those credited against us?

or do we do a cleanup of the playa BEFORE the event too?

No! Burning Man is the only one that is held to the BLM standard.Every year Burners find all sorts of crap from other events.A lot of it surfaces from the wear on the BM playa.One year I found thousands of spent fire crackers under the van.. After a week of wind blew the playa surface down to hard pan. It's ok, I'll pick it.. I pick up after people all the time. They just don't get it.. To complain is like wasting time talking to the wind..